630.741 


Illinois 

laimeis' 
Institute 


and  ITS  JOB 


Dean,  College  of  Agriculture, 
University  oj1  Illinois. 


[HE  UBHAfH 


SITY  Ui- 


Illinois  Farmers'  Institute 

H.  E.  Young,  Secretary 

Springfield 


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UNIVERSITY    OF    ILLINOIS    LIBRARY    AT    URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


kTl 


-37? 


ILLINOIS  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE 
1922-1923. 


PRESIDENT,  FRANK  I.  MANN,  Oilman. 
VICE-PRESIDENT,  RALPH  ALLEN,  Delavan. 
SECRETARY,  H.  E.   YOUNG,  Springfield. 
AUDITOR-TREASURER,  CLAYTON  C.  PICKETT,  Chicago. 


BOARD  OF   DIRECTORS 

Ex  Offlcio 

Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction — F.  G.  Blair,  Springfield. 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Agriculture — Eugene  Davenport,  Urbana. 
Director  State  Department  of  Agriculture — B.  M.   Davison,  Springfield. 
President  State  Horticultural  Society — F.  H.  Simpson,  Flora. 
President  State  Dairymen's  Association — J.  P.  Mason,  Elgin. 

Elected    by    Congressional    Districts. 

1st.  Dist. — Ira  B.  Reed,   Glenview. 
2nd  Dist. — August  Geweke,  DesPlaines. 
3rd  Dist. — Adam  Schilling,  Tinley  Park. 

4th  Dist. — H.  Clay  Calhoun,  915  Lumber  Exchange  Bldg.,  Chicago. 
5th  Dist. — C.  V.  Gregory,  223  W.  Jackson  boul.,  Chicago. 
6th  Dist. — L.   C.  Brown,  LaGrange. 
7th  Dist — Chas.   Gray,  5514  University  ave.,  Chicago. 
8th  Dist.— Arthur  C.  Page,   523   Plymouth   Court,   Chicago. 
9th  Dist. — Clayton  C.  Pickett,  1046  1st  Nat.  Bk.  bldg.,  Chicago. 
10th  Dist. — John  E.  Barrett.  Prairie  View, 
llth  Dist— J.  P.  Mason,  Elgin. 
12th  Dist. — Geo.   F.   Tullock,  Rockford. 
13th  Dist. — W.  G.  Curtiss,   Stockton. 
14th  Dist. — G.  A.   Switzer,  Macomb. 
15th  Dist. — Frank   S.   Haynes,    Geneseo. 
16th  Dist. — Ralph  Allen,   Delavan. 
17th  Dist. — S.    B.    Mason,    Bloomington. 
18th  Dist. — F.    I.    Mann.    Gilman. 
19th  Dist. — John  K.  Wheeler,  Cerro  Gordo. 
20th  Dist. — G.  G.  Hopping,  Havana. 
21st  Dist. — Leigh    F.    Maxcy,    Farmingdale. 
22nd  Dist. — E.  W.  Burroughs,  Edwardsville. 
23rd  Dist. — N.   F.  Goodwin,  Palestine. 
24th  Dist. — D.  M.  Marlin,  Norris  City. 
25th  Dist. — Harry  Wilson,  Pinckneyville. 


DEPARTMENT    OP    HOUSEHOLD    SCIENCE 

President — Dr.  Eva  M.  Wilson,  Manhattan. 

First  Vice   President — Mrs.   S.  E.   Bradt,   DeKalb. 

Second  Vice  President — Mrs.  J.  L.  Van  Gundy,  Monmouth. 

Secretary — Mrs.  H.  A.  McKeene,  Springfield. 


THE    Illinois    Farmers'    Institute    is 
fundamentally  a  people's  organiza- 
tion.    It   is   non-political   and   non- 
sectarian,  is  identified  with  no  class,  corpo- 
ration,  nor   faction.     It  has   no   axes   to 
grind,  no  patronage  to  distribute,  nor  self- 
ish schemes  to  promulgate.    Its  sole  aim, 
object  and  purpose  is  that  of  useful  public 
service  in  the  interest  of  all  the  people. 


JUL  1  4  1924 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

The  Illinois  Farmers'  Institute 


and 


Its  Job 


BY  E.  DAVENPORT, 

Dean.  College  of  Agriculture,  University  of  Illinois 

(Address,  27th  Annual  Meeting,  Illinois  Farmers'  Institute,  Monmouth, 
February  24,   1922.) 

ET  is  now  considerably  over  a  quarter  of  a  century 
since  the  Illinois  Farmers'  Institute  entered  upon 
one  of  the  most  useful  and  forward  looking  pro- 
grams that  ever  engaged  the  activities  of  any  agricul- 
tural organization. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  attempt  a  review  of  this 
notable  service  to  agriculture.  My  purpose  is  rather  to 
^  call  attention  to  some  special  features  of  this  work  as 
they  have  come  to  my  attention,  partly  by  way  of  grate- 
ful acknowledgment  for  personal  and  official  assistance, 
but  more  especially  to  call  attention  to  the  kind  of  work 
the  Farmers'  Institute  is  especially  well  prepared  to 

~  ]undertake. 

0  I 

I  am  the  more  encouraged  to  call  attention  to  the 
achievements  of  the  Institute  in  the  past  and  its  oppor- 

1  tunities  for  service  in  the  future  because  the  question  is 
sometimes  asked,  "Why  do  we  need  so  big  a  machine  for 

.A  so  small  a  grist ;  and  cannot  somebody  else  hold  the  insti- 
ll) tute  meetings  as  well  as  the  State  Institute,  the  Agri- 
:  cultural  College  or  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  for 
example?" 

In  one  form  or  another  I  have  been  asked  this  ques- 
tion many  times,  and  I  have  always  answered  in  effect 
'    that  if  it  is  only  the  county  institute  meetings  that  are  in 
mind,  or  even  the  annual  state  meeting,  like  the  present 


THE  ILLINOIS  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE 

great  gathering,  almost  any  public  agency  could  make 
the  arrangements,  hold  the  meetings,  and  run  off  the 
programs  as  well  as  can  the  State  Institute.  I  have  even 
gone  further  and  said  that  if  we  had  nothing  in  mind 
but  public  meetings,  I  am  not  sure  but  that  the  College 
could  beat  the  Institute.  Indeed,  I  am  not  certain  but 
that  the  State  Department  of  Agriculture  could  beat 
either  of  us — for  a  time. 

Unselfish  "For  a  time,"  I  say,  because  to  me  the 

Public  great  thing  about  the  Illinois  Farmers' 

Service.  Institute  is  not  the  meetings  held,  great 

as  they  are,  whether  county  or  state,  but 
the  great  thing  about  the  Illinois  Farmers'  Institute  is 
the  Institute  itself. 

This  is  what  I  mean :  It  matters  not  so  much  that  we 
have  meetings  and  programs,  or  even  that  the  meetings 
and  programs  are  good.  What  matters  is  that  the  pro- 
grams shall  include  subjects  and  ways  of  treatment  that 
represent  the  best  thought  of  the  most  progressive  farm- 
ers of  the  state,  not  only  in  certain  lines  of  agricultural 
progress  but  in  any  and  all  lines,  especially  those  most 
likely  to  be  overlooked  and  neglected  by  the  other  organi- 
zations. 

For  example,  we  may  confidently  expect  that  the 
Horticultural  Society  will  look  after  the  affairs  of  horti- 
culture, especially  in  its  commercial  aspects.  In  the 
same  way  the  various  breed  associations  will  take  care 
of  the  interests  of  their  respective  breeds  of  horses, 
cattle,  sheep  and  swine.  The  Dairy  Association  will  look 
after  dairy  matters,  and  if  anything  is  overlooked  or 
falls  between,  it  would  seem  that  the  Grange,  or  the  Illi- 
nois Agricultural  Association  would  find  it. 

And  yet  every  one  of  these  organizations  has  a 
rather  definite  program  that  fully  occupies  its  time  and 


AXt)  ITS  JOS. 

attention,  especially  the  newest  of  all,  which  is  really  the 
federation  of  County  Farm  Bureaus  and  the  parent 
extraordinary  to  a  multitude  of  local  sub-organizations 
for  the  attainment  of  ends  that  in  general  fall  under  the 
rather  broad  head  of  the  business  side  of  farming. 

Without  the  Farmers'  Institute  we  should  lack  an 
open  forum  managed  by  the  farmers  themselves  for  the 
discussion  of  all  such  questions  as  may  interest  them — 
not  somebody  else.  The  Institute  has  been  such  a  forum, 
and  as  long  as  Illinois  can  secure  such  management  of 
what  shall  be  discussed  from  that  forum  year  by  year  in 
county  and  in  state  meetings,  and  get  all  this  for  the 
bare  cost  of  the  traveling  expenses  of  a  quarter  of  a 
hundred  representative  farmers — just  that  long  she  will 
be  lucky  indeed. 

No  It  is  therefore  not  so  much  that  we  have 

Foolish  one  hundred  and  two  county  meetings  and 

Propaganda,  a  big  state  round  up  every  year,  but 
rather  it  is  the  trails  that  are  biased  at 
these  meetings  that  count,  and  it  speaks  well  of  this 
management  that  during  all  these  years  with  their  troub- 
lous times  no  foolish  propaganda  has  been  permitted, 
and  no  extravagant  ground  has  ever  been  taken. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  Institute  has  taken  some 
exceedingly  advanced  ground  'tvith  regard  to  agricul- 
tural progress,  and  it  is  that  to  which  I  would  call  atten- 
tion, particularly  such  portions  of  this  service  as  have 
come  under  my  personal  observation  and  within  my  own 
field  of  knowledge. 

For  example,  it  was  from  the  platform  of  the  Insti- 
tute that  the  campaign  for  better  roads  was  originally 
promulgated  and  shaped  up  gradually  into  what  would 
seem  feasible  procedure.  In  this  way  was  prejudice 
turned  into  intelligent  interest,  and  there  is  probably  no 


THE  ILLINOIS  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE 

better  example  of  what  can  be  done  by  consistent  and 
conservative  study  of  large  questions  in  ways  that  are 
really  constructive  and  publicly  understood. 

What  the  Institute  has  done  for  the  home  must  not 
be  forgotten,  for  some  of  the  earliest  and  best  sugges- 
tions for  home  improvement  came  through  its  publica- 
tions. Not  only  that,  but  the  Institute  afforded  the 
medium  whereby  pioneers  like  Mrs.  Dunlap,  Mrs.  Kedzie 
Jones,  Professor  Bevier  and  their  followers  have,  year 
after  year,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  reached  multi- 
tudes with  the  gospel  of  better  homes.  But  it  is  within 
the  field  of  agriculture  that  I  would  more  particularly 
speak. 


Big  The  first  great  job  undertaken  by  the  In- 

Jobs  stitute   was   the   rejuvenation,   or,   more 

Well  Done.  properly  speaking,  the  reincarnation  of 
the  College  of  Agriculture  at  the  State 
University.  The  Institute  was  hardly  out  of  its  swadd- 
ling clothes  when  this  job  was  undertaken,  but  like  Mi- 
nerva of  old,  the  giant  was  born  fully  matured,  as  events 
proved,  and  through  it's  medium  of  expression  and  in- 
fluence the  farmers  of  the  state  made  not  only  their 
wishes  but  also  the  necessities  of  the  situation  known. 

It  was  a  purely  unselfish  service  in  the  interest  of 
the  whole  public  and  has  been  so  regarded.  There  were 
other  agricultural  organizations,  and  good  ones,  but  none 
so  well  cut  out  for  this  particular  job  as  was  the  Farm- 
ers' Institute.  It  was  the  agency  by  which  public  ophiio-n 
was  crystallised  and  expressed,  by  which  Amos  Moore, 
James  H.  Cooledge,  S.  Noble  King,  Charles  F.  Mills, 
A.  P.  Grout,  N.  B.  Morrison,  Ralph  Allen,  Frank  I.  Mann 
and  a  host  of  others,  many  of  whom  have  long  since  gone 
to  their  reward,  showed  the  state  at  once  its  duty  and  its 
opportunity. 


AND  1T8  JO  If. 

If  the  Institute  had  never  rendered  nnolher  public, 
service  than  to  function  as  the  means  of  providing  Illi- 
nois with  a  real  College  of  Agriculture,  it  would  have 
fully  justified  its  existence. 

But  that  was  only  a  beginning.  A  real  study  of 
Illinois  agriculture  from  the  standpoint  of  science  and  of 
progress  showed  at  once  the  place  that  research  and  ex- 
perimentation must  take  in  the  scheme  of  state  develop- 
ment in  the  field  of  agriculture,  and  a  systematic  study 
of  the  soils  of  the  state  was  begun  under  the  special 
patronage  and  support  and  advice  of  the  Institute. 

It  was  many  years  ago  that  through  the  activities 
<nnl  <il  I  lie  solicitation  of  the  Fanner*'  Ii/sli/iilc  the 
State  Soil  Survey  u~<ix  hcyun,  and  it  has  continued  un- 
interrupted ever  since.  It  is  at  once  the  most  thorough, 
the  most  exhaustive,  the  most  beneficial,  and  the  most 
far  reaching  study  of  the  soil  ever  entered  upon  by  any 
state  or  any  nation  of  the  earth. 

Independent     This  is  my  answer  to  the  question  whether 
Self  or  not  the  University  could  conduct  the 

Management     institutes  better  than  the  Institute.    The 
Essential.  institutes  with  a  little  "I"  are  meetings, 

and  almost  anybody  could  conduct  them 
if  he  could  get  people  to  attend.  But  the  Institute  with 
a  big  "I"  is  an  institution,  and  it  cannot  be  "conducted," 
or  "held/'  or  otherwise  managed  except  by  itself.  To 
attempt  to  put  any  one  of  its  creatures  over  it  is  to 
destroy  it.  Nor  must  we  mistake  the  shadow  for  the 
substance  by  assuming  that  when  we  have  attended  an 
institute  meeting  we  have  seen  the  Institute. 

The  institute  as  a  meeting  is  good  or  bad  according 
as  the  immediate  officers  were  wise  or  unwise  in  choosing 
topics,  the  speakers  in  treating  them,  and  the  attendance 
in  giving  real  attention  to  the  subjects  under  discussion. 

9 


'/'///•:    //,/,/.YO/N 

But  the  Institute  as  an  institution  is  as  good  as  the  men 
that  make  it,  and  as  long  as  the  best  men  will  volunteer 
into  its  service  for  their  expenses  only  and  will  give  it 
the  best  of  their  thought,  just  so  long  will  it  be  our  most 
elastic  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  powerful  single 
agent  of  progress,  especially  along  lines  likely  to  be  neg- 
lected by  leading  and  direct  commercial  interests. 

For  example :  Out  of  the  survey  and  the  experiments 
in  the  behavior  of  our  different  soil  types  has  grown  the 
idea  of  a  System  of  Permanent  Agriculture.  Some  have 
called  it  the  " Hopkins  System"  because  that  great  man 
was  practically  the  inventor,  as  he  was  also  its  most 
ardent  and  able  exponent.  Some  have  called  it  the  ''Illi- 
nois System"  because  it  was  worked  out  in  Illinois  and 
the  details  have  been  so  widely  criticised  elsewhere. 

It  might  be  called  the  Common  Sense  System,  be- 
cause it  stands  to  reason  that  we  must  put  back  as  much 
as  we  take  off  if  our  successors  are  to  maintain  them- 
selves. It  might  be  called  the  Inevitable  System  because 
we  shall  all  be  forced  to  it,  the  only  question  being 
whether  it  shall  produce  at  a  high  or  at  a  starvation  rate. 

It  might  be  called  the  Farmers'  Institute  System 
because  that  has  been  the  popular  agency  that  has  sus- 
tained it  all  these  years,  and  given  it  a  hearing  and  a 
sympathetic  trial. 

Whatever  it  may  or  may  not  be  called — and  what's 
in  a  name  after  all? — the  thing  is  with  us  to  stay.  What 
is  Illinois  going  to  do  with  her  soils  lisa  question  that  the 
Farmers'  Institute  has  asked  not  only  through  the  re- 
searches of  the  Experiment  Station,  which  it  helped  to 
endow,  but  by  its  own  activities,  its  own  discussions,  and 
indeed  its  own  convictions  that  questions  of  fertility  do 
not  solve  themselves. 

Yes,  the  question  is  with  us  to  stay.  Our  great 
leader,  Dr.  Hopkins,  is  gone.  Peace  be  to  his  ashes; 

10 


AND  ITS  JOB. 

his  memory  is  ever  green  with  us,  but  let  his  findings 
and  the  deliberations  of  the  Farmers'  Institute  be  not 
forgot. 

Important  To  this  great  work  the  Farmers'  Insti- 
Work  tide  is  called,  as  much  as  any  body  of  men 

Ahead.  was  ever  called  to  any  great  service,  and 

I  fervently  hope  that  while  it  heeds  the 
call  and  follows  it,  no  man  will  ask  the  question  whether 
some  other  body  or  agency  could  not  do  its  work  more 
cheaply.  The  thing  that  the  Farmers'  Institute  has 
begun  and  can  continue  is  what  will  stand  between  Illi- 
nois and  the  decadence  that  has  threatened  every  civili- 
zation on  earth  and  that  has  overtaken  and  destroyed 
most  of  them  that  have  stood  for  any  considerable  period 
of  years. 

Our  fertility  and  its  preservation  is  not  the  only 
great  question  that  awaits  the  good  offices  of  the  Farm- 
ers' Institute.  Illinois  should  speedily  enter  upon  a 
home  building  era  such  as  the  agricultural  world  has 
never  seen.  The  time  has  come  now  when  the  country 
home  can  be  a  thing  of  comfort.  We  should  not  make  the 
mistake  that  France  made  when  building  her  permanent 
homes  and  build  them  so  small  or  of  such  character  that 
they  cannot  be  equipped  with  modern  conveniences.  A 
country  cannot  rebuild  its  homes  every  generation. 
Permanent  homes  should  be  built  in  the  youth  of  a 
country  while  it  is  strong  and  rich  and  before  it  becomes 
over  populated  from  expending  all  its  strength  in  num- 
bers. 

All  this  means  many  problems  for  a  state  like  Illi- 
nois, and  the  Farmers'  Institute  has  a  mighty  work  to  do 
in  thinking  out  these  long  thoughts  ahead  and  talking 
about  them  year  after  year,  because  the  form  of  our  ad- 
vancing civilization  must  develop  by  plan  and  intention 
and  not  "just  happen." 

11 


THE  ILLINOIS  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE 

We  are  going  into  a  new  agriculture  and  in  many 
respects  a  new  civilization.  Within  another  quarter  of  a 
century  the  center  of  population  will  be  within  the  bord- 
ers of  Illinois,  where  it  will  probably  remain  indefinitely. 

We  have  the  fourth  largest  city  in  the  world,  and  in 
time  it  will  be  the  most  important.  We  are  at  the  center 
of  the  greatest  agricultural  land  area  of  the  world,  which 
has  also  coal  and  oil  under  the  surface  and  the  best  of 
transportation  possibilities  both  by  land  and  water,  con- 
necting it  with  the  most  populous  and  the  most.  highly 
civilized  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Out  of  this 
development  will  rise  multitudes  of  question  that  will 
need  exactly  the  kind  of  foresight  and  breadth  of  vision 
that  can  be  supplied  only  by  a  state-wide,  non-commercial 
agricultural  organization  such  as  the  Illinois  Farmers' 
Institute. 

Illinois  must  not  come  short  of  her  opportunity  and 
hef  obligation  in  all  this,  and  if  she  is  to  live  fully  up  to 
her  possibilities  as  she  goes  along  she  needs  just  such  a 
monitor  and  just  such  a  forum  as  the  Farmers'  Institute 
can  provide.  Here  lies  the  job  for  the  Illinois  Farmers' 
Institute. 


THE  iiBRiw  of  w 

JUL  1  4  1924 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


SCHNEPP  &  BARNES,  PRINTERS 
SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. 

1922 
68253 — 10M 


12 


Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.    I 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


1* 

^ 


°  "••''£•  • 


£&, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

630.74D27I  C001 

THE  ILLINOIS  FARMERS'  INSTITUTE  AND  ITS 


30112  025315034 


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